Condolesences to the entire family regarding the sudden passing of your Dad. He left this earth the way he wanted........without suffering for months and perhaps years. It will be difficult for your individual families to adjust to the reality of this situation for sometime to come. Hopefully, you'll give and get support from each other.
I prefer to remember the good times, now far in the past. The many holiday dinners, birthday parties, campouts, sporting events, chasing horses, etc.
Shelda & Robin...do you remember when your Dad and Uncle Chuck dropped the whole Thanksgiving turkey on the floor of the back porch before it even got carved?!?). As I recall, the fact that the turkey had rolled around the floor didn't keep any of us from partaking in a wonderful holiday meal. Larry always liked to prance around after such a dinner, patting his tummy and "gobble-gobbling" in his own silly way.
Have you ever seen a man in "labor"? I can still picture Larry to this moment, as he held his stomach in pain because Mary Ann was in labor. This happened when both Dave and Lisa were born. We had a good laugh about that stomach ache for years and years!
There was the time that Lisa and Janell "painted" your Dad's toenails as he slept in his recliner. He was a good sport about the beauty treatment, wasn't he? Good thing too, as he got his hair styled as well.
During a camping trip to Little Naches, your Dad managed to go off an embankment and dislocate his shoulder, I called the Park Service to help get him off the mountain. The Park Service in turn got a MAST helicopter to airlift your Dad to the hospital in Yakima. Such a commotion! We somehow managed to get your Dad back to the campground. I got to spend the rest of the weekend caring for him while Dave and the others on that trip continued to ride their dirt bikes for another day! The next thrill was getting to drive that old blue Suburban and tow a trailer full of dirt bikes home (I didn't tow trailers before this particular weekend!). I don't remember which was worse, your Dad moaning in pain as we drove over the bumpy road out of the campsite, or your facing your Mom with a man who we "let" get injured! Such a camping trip!!!
Just because your parents have left the rest of us back on this earth, don't think their spirits are far from you. They have passed the torch to each of you to carry and do your very best with. Live life well and make them both proud. The best things in life are still free!!!
With Love and Sincere Sympathy,
Aunt Jackie##imported-begin##Jackie Rade##imported-end##
